this slope is treacherous
by youpushmeback
Summary: Jade West has known from the time that she was 13 that Beck Oliver was her soulmate. Unfortunately for her, whether or not she's Beck's is still unclear.
1. your name has echoed through my mind

**A/N: I promise this will be the only time that there's a huge author's note at the beginning of the chapter.**

**Hi, I'm Delilah, and this story has come to be because the Victorious fandom is severely lacking in Soulmate AU's. I'm publishing this here rather than on tumblr in the hopes that some interest will be generated and I will be motivated to finish it, so please review. Despite being an AU, this story is going to follow as closely to canon as possible- it will paint some events in an entirely different context and possibly explain certain behaviors on Jade's part. This is my first story for this fandom and I'm a little nervous about starting it from Jade's perspective, but I hope I'll be able to keep her at least somewhat close to her canon characterization.**

**The overall, the story is rated M, but the majority of the chapters will be T or K+. I'll try to put in a warning if the chapter is going to be M rated.**

**Bits of world building have been borrowed from dozens of Soulmate AU's from other fandoms, so if something seems familiar, I claim no credit. Also, I do not own Victorious or any of the characters. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider do.**

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_soulmate: noun; 1. a person with whom one has a strong affinity, shared values and tastes, and often a romantic bond; their perfect match, as signified by the appearance of a name on one's wrist during the adolescent phase. 2. the love of one's life_

The day the name of Jade West's Soulmate reveals itself starts out just like any other. She's thirteen and a half, barely even old enough to _have_ a mark, so she's definitely not expecting it when Jessica Davis speaks up during their middle school drama class and interrupts her monologue right when it gets to the good part to point at her wrist with an excited squeal.

"Jade got her mark!"

Jade's annoyance at being interrupted dissipates as she realizes what turns her arm to look at the inside of her wrist. Sure enough, the skin there is no longer pristine but marred with scars that are awfully angry looking for something that didn't even hurt.

"What's it say, Jade?"

"Is it someone who goes to school here?"

"Is it a boy's name or a girl's?"

Her entire class has come to life. Everyone is talking over each other, completely ignoring their teacher's feeble pleas for everyone to calm down. Jade's hand curls protectively around her wrist to hide the name as she glares at everyone in turn.

"It's none of your fucking business!" She snaps.

Her teacher is, of course, pissed at her for her language but the idiots in her class have shut up, and that's all that matters. She doesn't even pay attention to the teacher as she walks over to her desk and picks up her bag, leaving the classroom without a word. She'll be in trouble for it later, but that's not what's important right now. What's important is that she gets something to cover her wrist. The names of soulmates are, as Jade understands it, supposed to be intimate and private. She's heard that some of the kids who get their marks don't follow that. She knows that people compare names, making jokes about which name sounds hotter, but Jade is never going to be one of those people.

Jade will never admit it to anyone because even at thirteen she's worked hard to present herself as cold and cynical as possible, but deep down she's a romantic. Hidden in a box under her bed are copies of all of the literature she could find regarding soulmates. She's secretly been longing for this day- the day the universe decides that someone out there is her perfect match in every way. She hadn't been expecting it this early, but it doesn't matter, because it's here. Somewhere out there is someone who will understand her and love her no matter what she does or how cold she acts.

There's a rare smile on her lips as she opens her locker and reaches for the little bag in the corner that holds all of her jewelry. She finds a black cotton wristband with a red rose embroidered on the front and starts to slide it onto her wrist, pausing one more time to read the name there before it's hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

_Beck Oliver_.


	2. i can't decide if it's a choice

**a/n: so, i'm not a fan of huge chapters. i'm one of those readers who tends to lose focus if i have to read thousands upon thousands of words for just one chapter, so i'm probably going to keep these short. i have a general idea of where i want the story to go, so hopefully there won't be any super long delays either. and hopefully my writing will get better as i go, lol. it's been a loooooong time since i've written any fanfic (about six years since my last one on an account that is no longer active), so i'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.**

**also, the long version of this chapter title is: i can't decide if it's a choice, getting swept away.**

**and since i didn't say it in the first chapter, the story/chapter titles are from treacherous by taylor swift. i own nothing.**

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Seventy-five percent of people who are marked meet their Soulmate within six months. If you recieve your mark young (ie: before you turn 15), it's a universally accepted truth that you will be in the twenty-five percent who have to wait longer. Jade has accepted this. She's the only one in her class who has her mark. According to the Registry, she's one of eleven children below the age of 15 _in the country_ who has received it. Not one of those other ten, according to the woman at the Registry Office, is a Beck Oliver (okay, his name is a little stupid, but he's still _hers_). But that's okay. She'll wait a few more years. More kids will get their marks. She'll find her Beck.

So when she's sitting in a chair outside of the auditorium where Hollywood Arts High School is holding auditions for the next round of freshman and she sees a boy with tan skin and dark hair who is entirely too good looking, she doesn't feel guilty for watching him. She's almost 14. Beck, whoever he is, probably won't have his mark for a couple of years. She has a little bit of a wait ahead of her. She can look at who she wants to look at. The boy must feel her watching him, though, because he looks up and fixes her with a grin that she answers with a scowl. She doesn't want him to think that he can talk to her or something.

Still, as she looks down at the monologue that she knows by heart and pretends to study it, she can't help but sneak peeks every once in a while. He's _attractive_, okay? Like a real life Aladdin. Unlike her, he's not alone here. His parents are both sitting with him. For a moment Jade feels a little lonely, thinking about how her father would never have allowed her to leave the house today if he'd known that she wasn't going to the library but to audition for a performing arts high school. Then she shakes it off, because she is Jade West and she doesn't need her parents with her for support. She can be her own cheerleading squad.

Every time she looks up, Jade can see that Aladdin is still watching her. And seriously, if his parents weren't right there, she'd ask him what the hell his problem was. Just because she looked at him once and he saw her looking doesn't mean he can be creepy. It's childish and she knows it, but the next time his parents are talking to each other rather than possibly being able to see what she's doing, she makes a face at him. He just grins, and she resists the urge to flip him off. If this school has cameras for whatever reason, the last thing she needs is someone to see her being what they could consider undesirable. She _needs_ to get into this school. This is the first step to the rest of her life.

She's looking over the lines of her monologue one last time when the auditorium door opens. One kid leaves (is that seriously a _puppet_ in his arms? Oh God, she hopes he doesn't get in.) and the man who seems to be running the auditions looks down at his clipboard and then speaks four words that she swears make her heart stop.

"Beck Oliver, you're up!"

She's hyperaware of everything now. Her breath has caught somewhere in her chest. Her wrist itches, though she's not sure if that's a Soulmate thing or if it's all in her head. Aladdin stands up, and she has to look down quickly because she knows the expression on her face must be ridiculous. The attractive boy she was calling Aladdin in her head is Beck. Beck is Aladdin. Yes, it's entirely possible that this Beck Oliver isn't _the_ Beck Oliver, but when she looks up he's looking right at her. Brown eyes meet blue eyes and now Jade _really_ can't breathe and there's absolutely no doubt in her mind that this Beck Oliver is the Beck Oliver whose name is etched onto her wrist. And she doesn't know what to do.

He breaks eye contact and Jade wonders if he felt it too, whatever _it_ had been that had made her forget to breathe. Then her eyes dart down to his right wrist, which she can see because of the way he's holding his script (does that mean he's also doing a monologue? Is he an actor? Or is that not a script, but something entirely different?) and she knows that he didn't. Beck Oliver's wrist is blank. Beck Oliver doesn't know who his soulmate is. Jade knew that, of course, because of the registry, but it still makes her want to kick something. The auditorium door closes and Jade takes a deep breath. She needs to calm down. Her own audition will be coming up. She's not going to blow over a boy. Even if the boy is supposed to be her perfect match.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

She can't know for sure, but she's pretty sure that her audition went flawlessly. If she doesn't receive an acceptance letter in the mail within a week, she'll be extremely surprised. In her head, Jade can hear her mother's voice chastising her for not being more humble, but she doesn't care. She _nailed_ it. All thoughts of Beck have been driven from her mind as she leaves the auditorium… at least until she's back in the hall and sees him there, leaning against the wall. He grins when he sees her and she has to work extra hard to keep her face composed. She's not sure how to go about this. Beck is her Soulmate. He's walking toward her. She's about to meet her _Soulmate._ But Beck's wrist is clean, and probably will be for a couple of years now. She could show him her own mark, tell him that he's hers, but then she thinks about her parents.

'_No. Don't do that to him.'_ She chastises herself. Beck is in front of her now, so she puts on her best game face. She can do this.

"Hey." He says simply, still smiling at her.

"What do _you_ want?" Is her dismissive reply.

"I'm Beck."

He has a great smile. The kind of smile that looks just about perfect on his face. His hair's a little long, longer than any other boy she's had a crush on (not that there have been many), but it definitely works in his favor.

"Good for you." She says, already starting to walk toward the doors to the building. Does this count as playing hard to get? She's never flirted before, so she's not sure.

"You're not going to tell me your name?" Beck asks, a slightly perplexed look on his face. Jade's eyes dart down to his bare, unmarked wrist of their own accord, and then she looks back up at his face and shakes her head.

"No, I'm not." She says cooly. For a moment, Beck is silent, and she thinks that he's going to give up and walk away. Thinking about it stings, just a little, but she figures that even if he does walk away, she'll find him again. Soulmates, as she understands it, always have a way of finding each other eventually, and if they both get accepted to Hollywood Arts she'll have plenty of chances. And maybe he'll have his mark by then. But then he actually _takes her hand_, and okay, even if he is her Soulmate, no one touches her.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Jade hisses, yanking her hand out of his and trying to ignore the way it tingles in a way she's never felt before.

"I wanted to get a better look at your bracelet," He says, and Jade stops dead in her tracks because the only bracelet she's wearing is the thick terry-cloth band that covers her mark. "you already have your mark?" He doesn't seem put off by this- just curious, and she nods and tucks her hand into her pocket.

"Yeah, a couple of months ago." Jade tells him. For a moment she thinks about taking off her bracelet, of showing him his name etched onto her skin, but she decides against it when he speaks agaim.

"So have you met him, yet?" Beck pauses, looking thoughtful. "Or her. Either way."

That almost makes her crack a smile, blue eyes meeting brown for a second before she nods grudgingly. "I have. But _he,_" she adds the emphasis just to make things absolutely clear. "doesn't have his yet. And we only met the once." She's not entirely sure what brought on this honesty. It would be so easy for her to lie and say she hadn't. But for some reason, she can't bring herself to lie to him about this. And maybe a small part of her is hoping he'll somehow just _know_ that it's him.

"So what I'm getting out of this is that you're available." Beck's grinning again, and Jade just stares at him and prays that he doesn't hear how fast her heart's beating. "As in… I could ask for your number, and there's no reason why you couldn't give it to me because you're not attached to him, whoever he is, yet. Right?"

She should say yes. She _wants_ to say yes. But Jade has never been that easy and she's not going to start now just because his name is on his wrist and his smile makes her feel fuzzy in a way that she absolutely hates. "Technically, you're right." She tells him, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Except you forgot the possibility that maybe, just maybe, I don't _want_ to give you my number." She tells him, smirking a little.

Beck laughs. He actually _laughs_ like he didn't just get shot down, and it almost makes her smile purely because it's interesting to see someone so unfettered by rejection. "Then how about I give you mine?" He asks, and before she can say no he has a pen in his hand and has grabbed hers again.

"Don't you da-" Jade tries to sound menacing and she gives him her best glare, but Beck doesn't seem to care, because he proceeds to write a number in the space between her thumb and forefinger. She yanks her hand away after the initial shock wears off, the last few numbers getting smeared, and she glares at him. Who actually does things like that?

"Goodbye." The word is practically a snarl, but Beck just smiles again as she opens the door.

"I look forward to hearing from you!" He shouts after her as she stalks out into the sunlight and walks down the street to the bus stop, and Jade rolls her eyes. Yeah, Beck is her Soulmate, but that doesn't mean she's going to call him. His complete lack of regard for her personal space had been completely off-putting, and now that it's sunk in that she just _met her freaking Soulmate_, she thinks that he might actually be sort of obnoxious. And she hates obnoxious people. No, she is not going to call Beck Oliver. They'll see enough of each other next year, and she's only thirteen. There's no need to rush it.


	3. this daydream is dangerous

"_Dad, I know what I want to be when I'm an adult." Jade says, looking up at her father from her spot on the couch. She's nine years old and she looks like she's just found the answers to life itself._

_Andrew West looks at his daughter and smiles. "And what's that?" he asks._

"_An actress like Grace Kelly or Meryl Streep." She points to the tv, where Breakfast at Tiffany's is playing. She's recently discovered classic movies and can't seem to get enough of them, which Andrew had been more than fine with because it meant she wasn't watching the trash being put out for kids her age these days. Now, though, the frown on his face implies that he's not so sure that it was a good idea after all._

"_Don't be ridiculous, Jade."_

_Jade looks at him in surprise before it fades to a stoic expression, blank in a way that seems strange on a child. "What?"_

"_Only 1 in 90,000 make it as an actress. It's not a viable option. I knew I shouldn't have let you be in those plays."_

_Blue eyes widen and Jade stands up, not even bothering to turn off the movie. "I thought parents were supposed to tell their kids they can do anything." She mutters as she walks away. "And _I_ will be that one."_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

By the time her Hollywood Arts acceptance packet comes in the mail, Jade has almost convinced herself that she doesn't _need_ the stupid school anyway. The school that her dad wants her to attend might put its emphasis on rigorous academics than extra-curriculars, but it does have a drama program. There's also community theater and acting classes. She doesn't have to give up on her dreams just because one stupid school obviously doesn't know talent when it's right in front of them. She can do better anyway.

That doesn't stop her from dancing around the room in excitement when she intercepts the mailman three and a half weeks after her audition and sees a large manila envelope with the Hollywood Arts logo on it, though.

Of course, getting accepted was always just going to be the first hurdle. The second was going to be convincing her father to actually let her go. She was pretty sure that it would be fairly easy to get her mom on her side- especially once it was confirmed that Hollywood Arts was technically a public school. Yeah, you had to audition to get in, but once you were in the only thing you had to pay for was materials for your classes. It's no different from a regular school except that she'll take classes that will teach her things she cares about. Jade's preparing her speech to persuade her mom as she walks down the stairs for dinner, but when she sits down, her mind inexplicably flashes to Beck. She never put the number in her phone, but it doesn't matter because she's somehow managed to _memorize_ the damn thing. She doesn't even plan on using it. So once there's food on her plate, she looks at her mother and the words leave her lips before she can even think more about it.

"What was it like when you met Dad?"

Her mom freezes with the fork halfway to her mouth and looks at her before setting it down, and Jade almost feels bad for asking.

"Why?" Erica's voice is slow, cautious, and Jade shrugs and calls upon her acting skills to keep her face neutral. She has no intention of telling anyone that three and a half weeks ago, she got her Soulmate's number and then never called him.

"I was just, you know, wondering. You don't talk about it much. Never mind." She pushes her food around on her plate a little before taking a bite. Baked potatoes and chicken and peas. That's the thing about her mom cooking. It's never anything too fancy, but it's always filling.

"He didn't even have to tell me his name, you know. I slipped on the stairs and he helped me up, and when his eyes met mine, I just _knew_." Her mother says quietly, a wistful look on her face.

Jade nods. She knows the rest of the story. She's known the rest of the story from the time she was five and realized that none of the other kids had parents who were divorced and none of the other kids had step-mothers. She knows that Andrew West is Erica Jacobs' Soulmate. She knows that Erica Jacobs is _not_ Andrew West's Soulmate. That honor belongs to a woman named Delilah Knox. Or, as she's been known for the last ten years, Delilah West.

It's something the movies and books don't touch on. It's something most people don't talk about. Her parents' situation is an extreme rarity in the world. Only 3% of people in the world have Soulmates who have someone else's name on their wrist.

Her mom doesn't say anything more, and Jade doesn't blame her. She knows that her mother's situation almost tore the woman apart. It's obvious in the way she flinches whenever Jade mentions Delilah and in the way she attempts to keep her contact with Andrew to a minimum. Jade can't imagine what it must be like, especially because Andrew had spent four years with her before he'd met Delilah and everything came crashing down. From what Jade has been able to gather over the years, Andrew and Erica had always assumed that Delilah Knox was dead or out of the country or had a Soulmate who was not Andrew West. After all, Erica and Andrew had been twenty when they'd met- well past the age when one who is marked usually meets their Soulmate. Her father has explained only once that even though Erica was not his Soulmate, he had liked her and grown to love her. He'd been content to spend his life with her, content with knowing that Erica, at least, was having all of her dreams come true.

"Jade, is there something you want to tell me? You haven't asked about your father and myself in a long time."

Her mother's voice breaks Jade out of her thoughts, and Jade just shrugs as she plays with the edges of her bracelet.

"Did you meet him?" Her mom asks, and because it was the last thing that she was expecting, Jade can't quite keep her face blank enough. Her mother seems to recognize this. Her hand flies to cover her mouth and Jade sighs, knowing that while she might have been able to fool her father, she wouldn't be able to fool her mom.

"Yeah, I did." She says it like it's not a big deal, because it isn't. Jade hasn't called him and has no plans to.

"Oh, Sweetheart, I'm so happy for you." The smile on her mom's face is genuine and Jade sighs again.

"He doesn't have his Mark yet. He doesn't know who his Soulmate is. And I didn't tell him that he was mine." Jade expects her mom to tell her that that's a wise and mature choice, but instead, Erica frowns.

"Don't let your mother's experiences make you a cynic. I'm sure everything will match up just as it's supposed to. Now, where did you meet him? Why haven't I met him yet?"

Jade frowns. As far as she's concerned, she's already an anomaly. She's one of the youngest to already have a Mark. Her mother is an anomaly in that her Soulmate doesn't carry her name and the whole relationship was doomed from the start. It's just the sort of luck Jade would have, really. She doesn't say any of this, though. Instead, she decides to kill two birds with one stone and bring up the thing she really needs to talk about.

"I auditioned for a performing arts high school." She says, and just as she expected, her mom looks intrigued rather than disappointed or angry. Yeah, talking her mom into it is going to be easy.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Absolutely not."

Her father, of course, turns out not to be so easy.

"Dad, please listen to me. You don't have to pay a thing. And I already got in. They're just waiting for my confirmation call." Jade's surprised that she's keeping her voice so steady, but she supposes that it comes with being an actress.

"No, Jade. I'm not going to allow it. You need a _real_ school that will teach you things that are useful in the _real_ world. Not singing and dancing and_ acting_." The derision in his voice is clear and if Jade were a different sort of girl, might make her cry. But she's never been weak and she's not going to start now.

"All of the core subjects are still required and you have to pass them to participate in, well, anything that's not a class- plays, showcases, _anything_." She explains. "They have AP classes and Pre-AP classes and everything a regular high school would have. And I _really_ want this." She hates the desperation in her voice, but even all of her acting skills can't stop her from practically starting to beg.

"Andrew, dear, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world." Delilah (Jade has never been able to comfortably call her mom) speaks up and Jade both wants to tell her to butt out and hug her for being on her side. "Perhaps the two of you can strike a deal of some kind about it."

Andrew seems to consider this and Jade tries hard not to fidget and look as supremely confident as possible even though she's waiting with bated breath and it feels like her entire future is being decided. She has one last card that she can play, but she really doesn't want to.

"_If_ I allow this, the quarterly report cards they send to me _must_ show your grades at a 90 or above." He finally says, and Jade resists the urge to squeal in excitement. She also resists the urge to sigh in relief. Her last card had been to tell him that her Soulmate would also be attending and that it was likely the only way she'd ever meet him. A conversation about Soulmates with her father was not something she'd wanted to have to do.

"Thank you!" Still, she's a thirteen-going-on-fourteen year old girl who just basically got told that she was going to the high school of her dreams. She can't help but grin as wide as she can. "Nothing lower than an A, I promise." Which… well, that will be hard because she's terrible at math, but she can hire a tutor or something if she needs to. She's still grinning when she leaves the room and goes back to her own bedroom, and as she pulls out her acceptance packet again her mind drifts, as it often does these days, to Beck. Did he get in? Part of her hopes so. Part of her hopes that she'll never see him again unless he has her name on his wrist. Most people don't get their Marks until at least fifteen, though, so she knows she's got quite the wait. But she'll be at a school learning to be the best actress she can be. There isn't much that Jade West gets excited about, but for once, she figures she's entitled to some excitement. Only a few more months, after all, and she can officially call herself a Hollywood Arts student.

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**a/n: whoa, author's note at the bottom. i just wanted to clarify that yes, jade's parents are divorced in canon. It was discussed in a jade with tots clip. Not a lot of beck in this chapter, but I had some things to explain. We'll be back to the bade next chapter. (: hope you're all enjoying so far.**

**And I realize jade is still sort of… mellow right now, and it's a bit OOC, but… well, she's only thirteen (almost fourteen) here. Give her some time and she'll mold into the jade we all know and love.**


	4. this path is reckless

**A/N: Whew, that took a little longer than I intended it to. Updates may come slower these days, guys, since I'm going to be working a lot this summer so that I can afford a new apartment. Also, thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I'm glad you're all liking it so far.**

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The rest of the summer passed in a blur. Most of the time at her dad's house was spent locked in her room- which was exactly how everyone liked it. Despite the fact that Andrew and Delilah had been together since Jade was three years old, Jade had always felt like an outsider- especially after Delilah had had Hayden when Jade was five. He was the proper child- the child of a true Soulmate pairing. Jade was this _thing_ that wouldn't have existed if Andrew had waited longer to find _his_ Soulmate. Delilah had never been anything but nice to Jade, but she knew that the woman, all blonde hair and constantly bringing in yappy little dogs, didn't like her. Jade was the reminder that Andrew had been ready to give up, whereas Delilah had never stopped searching for him. Jade was the reminder that Delilah's Soulmate had been in love with someone else once. Add in the way Jade and Andrew hardly ever managed to get along because of his general disapproval over her recent style of dress (too much black) and her desire to become an actress, and it was no wonder that Jade preferred her mother's house. Unfortunately, the majority of Jade's time was spent at her dad's house.

If divorces were rare, divorces that had _children_ involved were like Unicorns. Jade hadn't even been four years old when her father met Delilah and her parents' marriage fell apart. Originally, primary custody had been given to Erica, with Andrew receiving her every other weekend. Jade couldn't remember much, but she knew that after the divorce her mother developed a depression that eventually led to alcoholism and, in time, an inability to properly take care of a small child. She was five years old when a welfare check (at the request of Andrew) had revealed Erica passed out drunk on the couch amidst a messy apartment while Jade stood on a stool and heated up soup on the stove. Two weeks later the courts had officially granted custody to Andrew. Erica had been forced to attend rehab, and Jade's primary place of residence had been her father's house ever since.

She wished that things were different. Her mom had cleaned up her act. She'd petitioned for custody. But despite that fact and that Jade had told the judge that she would rather live with her mom, the truth was that a household with two happy Soulmates was considered a healthier environment for a child than a small, single-parent household. It was a prejudice that Jade hated (mostly because it meant that she was stuck with her dad and Delilah) but that she couldn't avoid. So when the summer finally drew to a close and school started, Jade was happier than most kids were. Not only did this mean that the amount of time that she would have to spend in her dad's house would be limited, but she was going to _Hollywood Arts_ and okay, maybe it wasn't the best performing arts school in L.A, but it was still a performing arts school. It was the start of everything.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jade West had never been the type to get nervous. She didn't get nervous when she had to give a speech, or sing a solo, or act as the lead in a play. But as she walked toward Hollywood Arts, there was something stirring deep in her gut that she hated and only part of it had to do with this being a new school and the start of the rest of her life.

She never did end up calling Beck back.

She'd finally managed to forget his number, but she definitely hadn't forgotten him. It was hard to do when she saw his name flashing up at her every time her wrist wasn't covered. All it took was the tiniest flash of his name as she showered in the morning and suddenly she'd be thinking about him and the smile on his face when he'd asked her name and wondering if he'd gotten accepted.

Now Jade was here, and even though there were more important things to do than keep an eye out for a boy she'd only had one conversation with (she tried not to think about him as her Soulmate more than necessary because she didn't want to deal with that until it was absolutely necessary) she couldn't help it. As it turned out, keeping an eye out for Beck was unnecessary because she had just gotten her locker open when suddenly he was there next to her. He grinned at her, and then spoke. "You got in! That's great. I knew you would when I saw you. You just _look_ like a performer, you know?" He was all smiles and charm, and she couldn't help but let her eyes fall down to his wrists. Still uncovered. Still bare.

"No, I _don't_ know." Jade said, closing her locker door and shouldering her now much lighter bag. "What do you want?" She turned so that she was facing him properly, looking up and taking in the changes the summer had had on him. His hair was a little longer and he was a little taller, but as far as she could tell that was it. Everything else was pretty much the same.

"I want you to go to a movie with me this weekend. _Good Luck Chuck_ seems like it'd be okay. Or at least bad enough that we can laugh at it." Beck says all of this with a confident smile, like he knows she's going to say yes, and Jade can't help but get the feeling that he's not used to being turned down. And that makes her wonder what his dating history is like, because they're just freshman and it's not like most middle schoolers have a lot of dating opportunities. And okay, he might be attractive and he might be her Soulmate, but she's not that easy.

"Fuck no. I would rather gouge my eyes out." Mostly, she's talking about the movie, because romantic comedies aren't her thing. Either they're incredibly predictable or the director is trying to pretend that the characters live in a world where no one has a Mark or a predetermined Soulmate and has zany scheme after zany scheme that you know would be solved much faster if the world the character's lived in was like the real world. Plus, she really just hates romantic comedies. Beck doesn't have to know that she's referring to the movie, though.

His confident demeanor shifts for half a second, and then "Not a romantic comedy girl, huh?"

Jade just looks at him.

"I know a guy who can get us in to the new _Resident Evil_, if that's more your speed."

And really, that _is_ more her speed, but she's not going to give him that satisfaction. Now she's sure that he's used to girls just saying yes and his ego is probably a little larger than it should be. So she's going to knock it down to size.

"Did you miss the part where I didn't call you this summer? Walk away." Jade gives him her best glare but he stands his ground.

"Are you holding out for Mr. Soulmate, then?" Beck asks, nodding toward her wrist, and Jade scowls. If only he knew. "Because I thought you said that he didn't have his mark yet. And I can only assume he doesn't got to school here. You're still a free agent."

This guy has balls, Jade has to admit. For a second she almost smiles just because of how easy this seems to be for him. She wonders if he's one of those guys who doesn't put much stock in Soulmates… until he gets his own mark. "No, I'm not holding out for him. I just don't want to go to the movies with you." He looks like he's about to say something else when the bell rings and she speak up before he can.

"Oh look, time for class. Goodbye." Jade says, and as she walks away, she can hear him say, "Hey! I didn't get your name!" But she ignores it, smirking a little to herself as she does. Maybe there's a way to have fun with the uncertainty of this Soulmate thing after all.


End file.
